A device of this type is usually equipped with a control module in order to manage the operation of at least one item of equipment of the installation, for example a blower producing an airflow blown into the passenger compartment, or else a heating radiator for increasing the temperature of this airflow.
Hence, such a control module acts on an actuator for setting up the equipment in order to adjust the temperature and/or the speed of the airflow which the installation delivers, if appropriate as a function of a set-point value which a passenger of the passenger compartment supplies. This set-point value, relating to an air-heating configuration desired by the passenger, is generally issued by way of a control element available to the passenger.
In a control device of the abovementioned type, the control module works with a regulation module suitable for interpreting a variation of the set-point value and/or a variation in an air-heating parameter in the passenger compartment. The control module then acts on the setting actuator in order to modify the temperature and/or the speed of the airflow delivered, as a function of the abovementioned variations.
In the known control devices, variations in the air-heating parameters are estimated on the basis of measurements giving access to the temperature and to the speed of air blown into the passenger compartment. In fact, it is conventionally agreed that an estimate of the temperature and/or of the speed of blown air make it possible, in themselves, to define the comfort likely to be felt by a passenger of the vehicle. However, in a motor-vehicle passenger compartment, the heat sensed by a passenger depends, certainly, on the blown-air temperature, but also on its speed, as well as other parameters, such as solar or other radiation.
However, regulation is currently desirable which can take account directly of the thermal comfort which the passengers actually feel.
The present invention aims to improve the situation.